Showing posts with label boiler explosion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boiler explosion. Show all posts

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Sawmill Boiler Explosion Nearly Killed My Second Great-Grandfather

Joseph S. Ramer and Rachael Barbara Reed Ramer
My second great-grandfather Joseph Sylvester Ramer (1832-1900) was a Pennsylvania lumberman. In 1887, he was injured in a sawmill boiler explosion that made headlines across the state. My grandfather Lynne O. Ramer referred to the incident in his writing.

Altoona Times, March 18, 1887
 -


The York Daily, March 18, 1887
 -

The Cambria Freeman, March 25, 1887
 -
Pittsburgh Daily Post, March 18, 1887
 -
 -

I also discovered a Dec. 8, 1896, article in the Altoona Tribune about a Joseph Ramer, lumberman, who was shot in Gallitzin, PA while collecting money! This was Joseph's son Joseph Karner Ramer (1864-1940).
 -
Dec. 15 it reported that he was doing nicely.
 -
And on Dec. 21, he was discharged.
 -


Rachael Barbara Reed Ramer

See photos of Pennsylvania lumbering camps in the late 19th c at Slate Magazine
https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/09/photographs-of-william-t-clarke-capture-life-in-pennsylvania-s-lumbering-camps-in-the-late-19th-century.html